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Content is the backbone of a webinar. There is no doubt that the audience outreach, the technical accessibility and the engaging power of a webinar presentation are extremely important when it comes to delivering an effective web conference. However, what remains after a webinar is done, is the learning the host and the audience gain during a webinar session, which actually depends on the quality of the content disseminated during the webinar session.

The ideal content for a web conferencing session should be multi-dimensionally informative, personalized to the audience and flexible. The content demands special management on the part of the webinar designers in order to maximize its resourcefulness and engaging proficiency. Content designer must focus on the segmentation of the content according to its characteristics. Segmentation helps designing the content to be more effective and engaging. If you work on your webinar content in segments, it ensures that each part meets all the requirements. Once you have all the segments in place, evaluate your content holistically to assess its quality.

The content of a webinar can be segmented in the following manner:

The pre-script content

It refers to the content delivered to the invited audience before the webinar starts. It contains the road map of the webinar and provides the audience a glimpse of the discussion to be held during the conference. It should be concise, clear and engaging.

The spoken content

This is the content which is delivered to the audience by the host or presenter of a webinar. Its effectiveness depends on the presentation skills of the speaker. The speaker usually employs several techniques to enhance the deliverability of the spoken content. The most commonly used techniques are personalizing, use of humor and rhetoric.

The visual content

This is the part which supports the host’s content. It helps drive the matter of discussion home using illustrations. The use of advanced info-graphics in content facilitated by free web conferencing software should aptly summarize the topic being discussed.

The interactive content

This refers to the user generated content which develops during the discussion between the speaker and the audience. This part does not have to be scripted, but the speaker must control the course of the conversation. The host must maintain the flow of the discussion and keep it on track.

The summarizing content

This is an overview of the webinar which is presented to the audience at the end of the conference. This is the comprehensive review of the webinar which helps in increasing its recall value. Feel free to prepare for a Q&A as well.

With Techweek Chicago’s Fintech Summit approaching tomorrow, we interviewed leaders from Trading Technologies (TT) about their industry, their company, and their advice for others in similar positions. See answers from TT’s CEO Rick Lane, CMO Brian Mehta, CTO Drew Shields and Executive Vice President of HR Katie Burgoon.

BigMarker: Have you been involved much in Techweek previously? How will your role this year compare?

Katie Burgoon: Last year was the first year that TT attended, and we thought there was a really vibrant, energetic and talented crowd in attendance. We were so impressed that we wanted to step up our involvement this year, and we’ll be giving a talk on the main stage during the Fintech Summit tomorrow. We are also attending the Hiring Fair on Friday.

BM: What initially drew you to the fintech industry?

Brian Mehta: I’ve always had a passion for marketing technology, as well as the motivation for working on what’s new and ground-breaking — particularly with regards to the SaaS revolution, technology is giving more and more people access to tools and applications that can help improve their quality of life. I see fintech as the next big thing and really a blank slate in terms of marketing, training and overall communications.

BM: What do you think is the biggest challenge in Fin Tech? Especially for traditional financial companies.

Drew Shields: The biggest challenge is that capital markets firms have generally been slow to adopt new technologies, which means that it’s a delicate balancing act being an innovator in the space: you have to earn the trust of your customers and help them build trust in the technologies you use to innovate. At the same time, major transformations are happening as evidenced by the closing of the CME trading pits. So our users are evolving quickly while technology is evolving at an even faster pace, which creates unique challenges. We have to decide which technologies to use and when to use them, but also when to build for the user’s needs today, versus where you see them being in 2-5 years. Building sustainable solutions is challenging when both users and tools are changing so quickly.

BM: Financial technology can be confusing. What would you say the biggest marketing challenge is for fintech companies?

Brian Mehta: I think the biggest challenge is in effectively simplifying the message. This is a complex industry and you need to distill complex ideas into something easy to understand. But if you make it too vague, you run the risk of leaving people without enough details to fully comprehend the product. For example, we had to be very careful in describing our platform’s hybrid-cloud architecture, because there is still so much anxiety and misconception around the term “cloud.” It makes for a tricky balancing act.

BM: What’s the best advice you could give to a smaller company in the fintech industry?

Rick Lane: My advice would be that before you try to scale, make sure you’ve developed a core audience of passionate and loyal users that cannot live without you. It takes a lot of time and effort to build the relationship, but it’s necessary to have if you ever want to grow the right way. Your users need to have trust in your company to do what’s best for them, and that trust must be earned.

BM: What’s the best advice you received while working in your industry?

Katie Burgoon: Never burn a bridge. That’s true across all industries, but I think it’s particularly true in a niche like fintech. You never know when you might end up needing someone’s assistance in the future. And even if you just burn a bridge with one person, the effects on your reputation can spread well beyond that. The fintech world is huge, yet even smaller ironically. So many people I have previously worked with, hired or had to part ways with in one fashion or another, have re-entered my professional life. The beauty of this industry is that it is home to some of the most innovative and talented minds around. Those networks are critical.

BM: What’s the most rewarding part about working at TT?

Rick Lane: We have a diverse company with smart people that debate in a healthy and team-oriented manner.

Drew Shields: So much is at stake with our software, that having a hand in building a world-class product is rewarding.

Brian Mehta: Can’t beat the free beer! Just added ‘bartender’ to my resume. But in all seriousness, being part of a company that is genuinely disrupting an established industry is exhilarating.

Katie Burgoon: We give people the opportunity to take ownership over certain parts of the business, and new ways of doing things are welcomed. We work hard to eliminate the fear of failure. We are okay with making mistakes and we learn from them. We want all of our employees to feel empowered, tapped in, vested and to have fun, all while solving challenging problems.

David Gardner and ColorJar may just embody the Midwestern idea of the American Dream. Gardner grew up in Minnesota, attended Dartmouth where he founded his first start-up, and then moved to Chicago where he founded ColorJar.

It makes sense that this genuine and humble CEO would be involved in Techweek Chicago, and has been for several years. This year Gardner is speaking at the “Branding and Tech” track and focusing on positioning strategy and helping tech companies break through the “noisy world.”

BM: What initially drew you to wanting to be in the start-up, tech industry?

David: Going back in time to 2003, where I did my first tech startup, when I was a student at Dartmouth. We created a positive news website for the college and the community. That was my first taste. The internet was a very different place. This was a pre-Facebook world, pre-Twitter, pre-YouTube… I was hooked from there.

BM: What advice would you give to a new startup?

David: People are right to give the advice to put something out into the world quickly and see how users react. But I would pair that with advice that you need to be very intentional with everything you do. Yes, get a product out there quickly for people to use, but don’t underestimate the importance of taking a step back to figure out how you fit into the world, what’s special, and how you convey that to everyone.

Because you could have the best product in the world, but if people don’t very quickly understand what it is and why it’s valuable and how it fits into their lives, they’re never going to give it the time of day.

You could have an amazing product, but if people don’t understand it before they use it, they are never going to try it at all. The only way to do that is to be incredibly intentional with your message and every brand decision that you make.

BM: Did anyone ever give you great advice early on that you have kept with you?

David: A lot of people—I can’t really give the credit to any one person. The Chicago tech community as a whole is so inclusive and supportive, that I feel very fortunate….Even people who could be competitors of ours are supportive and I’m supportive of them. The last three or four years has been really cool to the gain momentum and reach a point where it’s kind of a frenzy. I would really give credit to everyone in Chicago, that’s really why ColorJar has been successful, because there are so many people rooting for us and being helpful.

BM: Is that sense of community what kept you here in Chicago?

David: I think the theme for me with Chicago is balance. It’s a very balanced place to live. That sounds like maybe not an exciting thing, but I think it is actually wonderful. It’s a huge metropolis and has every opportunity you could want from living in a big city: from food, culture, business, on and on. There are an amazing amount of talented people that live here, especially with all of these great universities.

Employees, we call them “teammates” here, tend to be extremely loyal. We have people work here and stay here a long time, and that’s unique to us, but also something I’ve heard from other founders in Chicago. In some other places people really hop around a lot more.

That loyalty is wonderful when you are trying to build a company and a culture. There are tons of great customers in Chicago with all the large companies that are headquartered here. It just seems to have the right mix. It has the right balance of a lot of different things that make Chicago a great place to live.

BM: What is the biggest positioning and branding challenge for a start up?

David: The biggest challenge is not to over-message. So many people are too close to what they are doing and are too in love with top three or five or seven features or benefits of how the product could be used. They want to be broad as to not limit the amount of customers they have.

The key is to understand yourself so well that you are confident enough to be able to pick out the one thing you’re best at and lead with that only for a very specific audience.

Once you are able to reach that specific audience with a specific message, you can broaden from there. I think people are too general and lead with far too much. Customers have very short attention spans and they don’t have a lot of time. You need to convey what’s important and why they should give you a shot, very quickly.

BM: Do you have a favorite or most memorable project you have worked on here at ColorJar?

David: That’s difficult, there are so many. But it’s been really fun to see what Kapow Events has done. We began working with them when it was just three partners in a room, and the room was our office because they didn’t have one. It was just three partners and an idea. It had a different name, and it was early. We helped them figure out the initial user experience and how it should be designed and developed and we created a product for them.

To see them go from that, three guys with an idea just 3.5 years ago, to today having 170 plus employees and being in a dozen or so cities, and adding an office in a new market every month and growing at the rate at which they’re growing has been pretty cool to be part of along the way.

BM: What is most rewarding about founding a company like ColorJar?

David: The people at ColorJar. We all get to work together. We really built an A-Team of some of the best strategy, development, design, and project management talent around. To be able to call those people peers and teammates and go in and do this together every day has been the coolest part.

You can watch David’s panel at Techweek Chicago OR watch it for FREE on our livestream here.

Webinars are an excellent means of reaching out to one’s clients and customers in the most cost-effective way. However, designing a webinar is not an easy task. It requires careful consideration of the needs and interests of the audience.

This necessitates the use of innovative tools and techniques to make web conferences as interesting as possible. After all, an effective webinar is one which is able to comprehensively engage its audience from the very beginning all the way till the end. One of the most reliable tools that never fails to captivate an audience is the art of storytelling.

In the context of a webinar or free web conferencing session, storytelling specifically refers to the use of narrative techniques. Stories and narratives when used effectively can result in a webinar that is interesting and engaging. Here are 5 simple reasons why storytelling techniques deserve consideration when designing a webinar.

Storytelling is a great way to capture attention.

Use stories smartly as part of the carrot and stick strategy. A relevant story can instantly grab the interest of the audience, and create an element of anticipation. It essentially serves as the “carrot” on the stick as it entices the audience to invest themselves in what you are saying.

Storytelling is interactive.

This might seem counterintuitive, but the act of listening to a story or narrative is not a passive activity. It is active and requires the focus of the audience on the narrator. The narrator or speaker must then capitalize on this attention and translate it into some form of dialogue.

Storytelling is thought-provoking.

Stories are great vehicles for messages. A message might not sound useful if delivered blatantly to an audience, but, when told within a story, it has higher chances of invoking thoughtful consideration.

Storytelling is persuasive.

Stories have the power to stimulate people emotionally. When facts are presented within a meaningful framework of events, they become more convincing.

Storytelling is memorable.

The best thing about a story is that one remembers it long after one has heard it. This makes it a valuable tool in a webinar host’s arsenal. Important facts or messages that are conveyed within a narrative or alongside a story or anecdote have a higher chance of recall than a bland statement.

Storytelling in an online conference is a technique which provides an imaginative experience to the audience, instead of just feeding them the facts. It also entertains the audience while gently luring them into a state of active participation. When used wisely, storytelling is an extremely useful illustrative tool that will not only enhance the quality of your webinar but drive audience engagement too!

Design and flow of slides are two of the most important factors for a successful webinar. In an online webinar, slides are not just visual aids, they are THE visuals. This makes it imperative for you to work hard on them and create slides that visually engaging yet thoroughly informative.

Your slides should have two basic characteristics:

Logical flow

Engaging design

It is important that your slides appeal to the left and right side of the brain. The left side of the brain is all about logic, order and flow, while the right side is inclined towards visual and emotional appeal.

It is important to divide your webinar into three defined sections:

Introduction

Key points

Conclusion

Arrange all your content inside these slides in a logical sequence and then begin designing each slide.

The slides that you prepare will be broadcast to a number of people. Remember that not everyone has access to high speed internet, which is why it is necessary to keep your slides light so that they can load in a jiffy. Here are a few other tips to help you create attractive and engaging slides for your webinar.

Fixed background

The background of the slide should ideally be a single wash of color, without watermarks or decorative patterns. Avoid using graphics as well. Choose contrast colors for any text on the slides. These simple measures ensure that your slides load fast and are clear when seen on different devices.

Remove animation

Try to minimize the use of animation in slides. If possible make the slides static. Animation slows down the webinar and the online meeting software is not able to send the slides across quickly. Slides without animation load a lot faster.

Use small pictures

Pictures make the webinar visually appealing and add interest, but you don’t want them to distract the audiences’ attention from the written content and your key points. Shrink any pictures so that they are well balanced with the text. Pictures also make files heavier so stick to smaller pictures as they make it easier to share and load slides.

No Transition

Any type of transition between slides is almost unnecessary and is one of the main causes of a slow webinar presentation. Simple or complex, any type of transition involves movement which makes the webinar crawl along at a snail’s pace. Presentation tools like Prezi look very impressive in-person but are a complete no-no as far as webinar speed is concerned, regardless of which video conferencing services you use.

Designing slides is easy and does not require much effort. However, to make your slides effective it is important to invest adequate time in planning and designing your slides. We said it earlier and we will say it again, when it comes to webinars your slides are THE visuals. Always be sure to take some time and effort to design slides that are simple, effective yet visually appealing.

To a certain extent, the success of a video conference or webinar depends on using the right technology and gadgets for the event. All of the preparation undertaken by the conference speaker will go to waste if their gadgets are not up to par. In fact, the success of a web conference depends just as much on its technical perfection as it does for the brilliance of the speaker’s presentation skills.

Video conferencing solutionsrely heavily on the best gadgets available to deliver high quality and technically sound results. For an absolutely fantastic video conference, you need to have a suitable camera at your disposal. There are various types of cameras available that fulfill various technical requirements; so it is important to keep your specific requirements in mind when choosing the right camera for your video conference.

Here is a look at the various types of cameras available to help you choose the right one for your next webinar.

Dedicated Webcams

The most common and basic type of video camera that can be used for a video conference is a dedicated webcam. It is inexpensive, easy to assemble and use with your desktop or laptop. However, dedicated webcams don’t always come with a strong video output. Some web cameras record video with a low number of frames per second and have a relatively lower pixel density or PPI (pixels per inch or megapixel). As a result, the video output is grainy. Be careful about the web camera you are looking to purchase and make sure you purchase a dedicated web camera that can record and stream high definition video for the best possible result.

Integrated Webcams

This camera is pre-fixed to your laptop or desktop screen and all other technical requirements are pre-installed in your system. The most widely used integrated webcam is a 0.3 megapixel VGA that is able to record video at a rate of 30 fps (frames per second) with a resolution of 640*480. The benefit of this camera is that it does not require any additional monetary investment however, you cannot modify its configurations and have to accept its limitations. Integrated webcams will do the trick in a tough situation but should be avoided for large-scale video conferences.

External Camcorders

External camcorders come with a truckload of great features such as 27x zoom, which can be extended to 54x, auto and manual exposure, and backlight compensation. Together, these features allow users to have greater control over the final video output. An external camera can be connected to your system via USB port and is compatible with nearly all computer systems. It requires a video capture card on your system to stream and transmit the webinar. If you choose to opt for a camcorder, then make sure your system has enough free space. All of the video files for your webinar will be stored on your computer. A camcorder, while slightly laborious can be a reasonably good option to consider for your webinar.

Digital Camera

A digital camera is similar to a camcorder. What really sets it apart are its specifications. The technical configurations of a digital camera are structured keeping in mind its adaptability for recording video, as well as taking high quality photographs. A basic digital camera has a minimum of 8-10 megapixels however, most modern models are capable of high definition recording. A digital camera allows you even greater control over the quality of the final images, with external lenses and manual and auto modes for different situations. The only drawback, and this is a big one, is that not all digital cameras can be used in place of a web camera. With this in mind, it is critical to find out whether the digital camera you own or are planning to purchase can be used for a video conference before you proceed with your purchase or plan of use.

A first impression is often the last impression. Presenters often become so wrapped up in the technicalities of planning a webinar that they forget one basic rule. This rule of thumb applies just as much to your free web conference as it does to your choice of clothes. So why is it that when most people sit down to plan or conceptualize their webinars, the title is often the last thing that they consider?

Here is why the title is quite possibly one of the most important aspects of your webinar. When you advertise your webinar, remember that no one has actually attended it yet, so the only thing to pique their curiosity and interest is your title. No matter how informative and relevant you webinar is, if you cannot captivate your potential audience with the title then the rest ceases to be relevant. The title needs to be just as interesting if not more, than the content of your webinar; because when it comes to advertising your free web conference, the title does half the work. So don’t underestimate the importance of the title, give it the consideration it deserves and watch it work for you.

Choosing a title can be a daunting task when you consider the sheer importance of picking the perfect words that summarize your webinar.

Be factually correct. Choose a title that accurately summarizes the topic that you will be covering. If you are speaking about tax savings for the Financial Year 2014 then your title needs to reflect this. For example, a tentative title would be “Tax Savings for the Financial Year 2014-2015”.

Make the topic relevant. Frame your title so that it reflects the facts that you will be sharing and how they are relevant to your audience, so the same title above will be modified to “Save Big with Tax Savings for FY 2014”

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

– Rudyard Kipling

Remember your interrogatives. The key to writing good content and in this case creating the perfect title are the five W’s and one H. Use these words or keep them in mind when framing a title. This helps emphasize the content of your webinar and communicate to the reader what they can expect. For example, “How to Save Big with Tax Savings for FY 2014-2015”. This title now accurately encapsulates some if not all of the five W’s and one H making it easier for the reader to gauge if and how the webinar is relevant to them.

Your title should also be catchy. People are constantly bombarded with information online, so it is easy for your webinar to get lost in the crowd. A catchy title will help capture someone’s interest at first glance, and then the relevant information will help translate that attention into attendance. Consequently, our sample headline now reads, “Don’t Tax Yourself – How to Save Big with Tax Savings for FY 2014-2015”.

Get rid of the clutter. Now that you have a catchy and relevant title in place, pare it down to its bare essentials so that it is not too long or verbose. After all “Brevity is the soul of wit”! Keeping this in mind, the final title of your webinar on tax savings would be something like “Don’t Tax Yourself – How to Save Big on your Taxes (FY 2014-15)”.

Keeping these guidelines in mind will help you come up with the perfect title for a webinar or free web conference. Even though it might be last on your to-do list while you plan your event, don’t underestimate its role in increasing your audience. Shakespeare may have gotten this one wrong, there is plenty in a name!

A webinar is a professional audiovisual tool that allows professionals and businesses to communicate with a large group of people using online meeting software. A successful webinar needs a concrete agenda, a topic worthy of large-scale dissemination and a viable, dependable audience. For a fledgling company or professionals who are not well known beyond their professional circle, it can be quite a challenge to promote a webinar effectively online. Here are a few key insights to help you promote your webinar, generate awareness and create a relevant audience base.

Target the ‘Target’

In-depth market research can help you find the right audience for your webinar. Consumer studies, informal conversations and current market studies can help you narrow your focus and understand your desired audience base.

Strategize

Once you understand your target audience it’s time to strategize. A comprehensive promotional strategy is comprised of short term and long term tactics that are designed to capture your target audience’s attention and convince them to attend your webinar. Identify platforms that will help you connect with your target audience and create your strategy accordingly.

Be a Smart Tactician

A tactic is a small, focused, plan that is a part of an overall strategy. Once your marketing strategy is in place, break it down into tactics that you will employ to gain an audience. This means creating targeted promotional plans that will be implemented across a variety of online platforms.

Some of the basic online platforms you can use to promote your webinar are:

Email

Eye-catching emails about your webinar being hosted with a free webinar service provider can help you reach out to targeted individuals. Don’t forget to send them event reminders to ensure that they remember to attend the webinar. Research says that around three online reminders in a span of two weeks are more than enough.

Blogs and Websites

Create a blog or a website to promote your webinar. Also, make it a point to visit other blogs and websites to spread the word. A blog or website is a great platform on which to provide comprehensive details of your webinar. Make sure your blog posts contain a link to the sign up page and have an attention-grabbing hook along with the key benefits of attending your webinar!

Social Media

It is time to turn into a Social Media Ninja. Identify the appropriate social media platform most likely used by your target audience and use it to promote your webinar. Concentrated efforts on targeted platforms can be far more effective than a one size fits all approach.

Don’t Forget Forums

Forums are a great place to promote webinars as they provide you with access to specific groups of people ensuring that your message reaches the most relevant group of people. Don’t forget to check the rules of the forums that you are a part of as most of them have strict guidelines regarding promotion.

Execute with Awareness

Once you have your promotional strategy and tactics in place, you need to implement them effectively. While campaigns must be planned with precision, make sure you give yourself enough leeway to improvise and tweak your plan as you go along. Learn to listen to what the statistics are telling you. If you find some posts or certain types of promotional activities are receiving more attention than others, then try creating more of those. Conversely, if certain activities are barely yielding any results, then it might be wiser to abandon ship and try other tactics instead. This will ensure that your plan delivers the best results possible.

Technology has made things easily available and accessible. Today, tasks like taking interviews are easily conducted online with the help of various free video conferencing software.

While you may be kicked about that interview, it always helps to know a few dos and don’ts of an online interview. Here are few tips to keep in mind, which will help to prepare better for video conferencing interviews:

Prepare Right

Preparation is the key for a successful interview. Keep a list of questions that the interviewer may ask you handy. As far as possible, make sure that you don’t err or stumble while answering their questions. Rehearsing will help you overcome the initial nervousness.

Groom Yourself

Appear clean, tidy and professional. Wear colors that will appear good on camera. Avoid colors like red, orange or black as they appear ‘heavy’ on screen.

Equip Yourself with relevant Documents

Keep all the required documents, papers, certificates etc. with you. In case the interviewer demands them, you can show them immediately. Also, keep a soft copy of your documents ready to be e-mailed to him.

Keep Conversations to the Point

Revolve your conversation around the interview as much as possible. Avoid side conversations completely.

Adequate Time to Respond

Allow your interviewer to complete his opinion. Dissecting him while talking may be annoying and it may end up hampering your prospects.

Control Your Body

Your body language conveys a lot about you. Avoid swaying, rocking in your chair and nervously moving your fingers. Remember that the interviewer can see you.

Camera Position

Position your camera at such an angle that your upper body is visible to the interviewer, and not just your face or chest.

Smooth &Fluid Conversation

Keep the conversation simple and crisp. Talk to your interviewer with a smile as and when possible.

Sign Off Politely

Remember to let the interviewer conclude the meeting. Ask him about when you can get back to him. Allow the interviewer to first hang up the call.

With the help of web conferencing, let the physical distance not hold you back from chasing and accomplishing your dreams. With these small tricks, make the big impact and seize your moment!

With the competition getting stiffer, businesses are trying newer ways of expanding their reach in the market. Traditional practices like meetings are being increasingly replaced by modern methods such as Video Conferencing.

Free video conferencing offers some invaluable advantages over other modes of communication when you strive to connect with your employees and colleagues in various areas of the world. Video conferencing is free in service most of the time and has evolved over the years with new features and facilities to the user.

Here are a few ways how it has been helping businesses go from local to global:

1.Saves Time

You need not travel to your office boardroom to conduct a crucial meeting. You might as well get in touch with your team while in your living room. Video conferencing saves a lot of valuable time.

2.Saves Money

Travelling for long hours to attend meetings or seminars just for few hours may not be economical, given the expenses involved. Free video conferencing helps you to cut on the travel expense and time, thus saving precious resources.

3.Boosting Productivity

Many free webinar service providers help you to transfer presentations, heavy documents, PDFs and more to your business associates. As a result, decisions and their implementation take place quicker, ultimately boosting the productivity of your business.

4.Stronger Partnership

Video conferencing offers a face-to-face communication between the involved parties, eventually establishing a robust business relationship.

With these clear advantages over other modes of communication like conference calling, Video Conferencing is taking the world by storm.